We spent two nights and one day in Mandalay, most of which was spent recovering from spending the previous day waiting for the bus to be repaired in the searing heat.

The next stop was Hsipaw further to the North, and our experience of terrible bus journeys continued...

On paper the journey looked fine, 7 hours in a comfortable AC bus. But because the bus had AC the bus owner decided it would be a good idea to have all of the windows bolted shut, to stop people opening them, and allowing the precious conditioned air to escape.

I agreed with the windows being permanently shut... until passengers started throwing up. The only option for victims of motion sickness was to vomit in the aisle. By the end of the journey a heavy press on the brake pedal resulted in a volume sick cruising past you down the aisle. The bus didn't smell too fresh either.